HAKKARI, Turkey (UPI) -- Turkish security forces killed at least 21 members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party in Hakkari province near the Iraq border, the government said Friday.

The assault in the town of Umrulu, in which 16 Kurds and one Turkish soldier were killed, was a response to an earlier attack by the Kurdistan Workers' Party, known by its Turkish-language initials of PKK, the Hakkari Governor's Office said in a statement.

Five PKK members were killed in the previous battle in the nearby town of Semdinli, the statement said.

More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict between the PKK and Turkish forces since a movement to establish a separate Kurdish state began 28 years ago, the newspaper noted.